January 26, 2009

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

I made strawberry tuiles and chocolate pistachio tuiles to go with my creamy strawberry coconut ice. The cookies were very easy to make and came out beautifully. This was another wonderful challenge working with a different type of dough.

Recipes

Strawberry Tuiles

Oven: 180C / 350F

4 Tb brown rice flour

5 Tb arrowroot starch

1 Tb dried strawberries, ground into a powder

5 Tb + 1 1/2 tsp powdered sugar, sifted

1 tsp chia seed meal

3 Tb butter, softened

1 Tb Lyles golden syrup

1 egg white

1. In a small bowl, combine the brown rice flour, arrowroot starch, powdered strawberries and powdered sugar and stir together.

2. Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream the butter and golden syrup. Keep blending and add the egg white. Add the flour and stir until the mixture is smooth. Be careful to not overmix.

3. Cover the bowl and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or until the batter is a little firm.

4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Depending on the type of parchment paper you have, you may need to grease the paper. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil or cardboard template such as the butterfly or heart. Press the stencil on the cookie sheet and use an offset spatula to spread batter. Leave some room between your shapes. You can also grease the inside of a cookie cutter and spread the batter inside the shape.

5. Bake hearts in a preheated oven (350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. Or place a cookie sheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

1. Temper the couverture, and stir in the toasted pistachios. Place the template on a sheet of rodoïde (or use a clean sheet of sturdy plastic such as a folder) and fill with about 1 tbs of the mixture. Repeat the process a little distance away from the first one. As soon as you have 5 tuiles fit, slide them onto a mold or rolling pin (side of a glass) to curve.

2. Let cool completely, lift tuiles off the plastic only after the chocolate has set and just before serving, so that they keep their shine.

January 24, 2009

Dorothy's sentiment, "There's no place like home!" is so very appropriate for us. We've been traveling quite a bit off and on for the last year. It always takes a little bit to get adjusted to being back home and not living out of a suitcase.

For the last two months, we've been in Florida helping my Dad care for my Mom who had a stroke in late October. I took over from my brother who went down when she was released from the hospital. He spent a month helping them with all aspects of their life and the logistics of physical and speech therapy and traveling to her various doctor's. When we arrived, I took over the running of the house and let my dad focus on her care, while together we negotiated the changes in her diet directed by her doctor (diabetes and GERD).

Her prognosis is wonderful. The doctor's were able to get to her within 20 minutes of the onset of the stroke and give her the stroke drug. Her neurologist believes that she will be back to her normal self at around six months from her stroke.

Our family and friends were absolutely fabulous and banded together to help us out. So many stopped by to sit and visit, drop off Christmas goodies or part of their citrus harvest (Meyer lemons, kumquats, naval oranges and grapefruit) and to give us a sholder to lean on.

Leaving them and coming back home was bittersweet, as we were torn between wanting stay and help and the need to get back to our home, however the shock of returning to a New York winter has us shivering in our shoes.

While getting settled back into the house we had an interesting discovery, every severe cold snap a mouse takes up residence and this one had a taste for fine chocolate. This mouse managed to find it's way upstairs into the kitchen pantry and was working it's way through a 1/2 pound block of bittersweet Callebaut chocolate. Obviously a mouse of discerning taste, it left all the other items in the pantry alone.

As you can guess that started me on a frantic cleaning frenzy and a purging of the pantry (just in case). While my husband donned his hunter persona and started stalking his wily rodent prey. A hunt that while successful, seems to be never ending as the temperatures drop at night making the little furry fellows seek out the warmth of our home.

With freshly washed and scalded cookware, I have started cooking and baking again. After reseasoning my aebleskiver pan, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to bake up several batches of these delightful and poppable breakfast delights.

This version is a bit sweeter than my version filled with spiced apples, and has the added richness of flavor from a Madagascar vanilla bean flavored French cognac. Needless to say, these didn't last long as my son tended to grab them by the handful and eat them like candy.

2. In another medium bowl, pour in the agave syrup, egg yolks, cognac and soured almond milk. Then stir the ingredients together.

3. Pour the liquid ingredients in to the dry ingredients and stir together. Set aside while you beat the egg whites.

4. Plop the egg whites in to the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat the egg whites on high speed until it forms firm peaks. Fold the egg whites in to the aebleskiver batter until blended.

5. Preheat the aebleskiver pan and then grease the cups with oil. Pour 3 Tb of batter into the bottom of each cup and cook for 4 minutes.

6. Use bamboo skewers to flip each pancake upside down and cook another 2 minutes. Remove the aebleskivers from the pan and set on a plate to cool. Makes 18 aebleskiver. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with warm syrup and jams, jellies or curds.